One of the first
marks of decline in the course of human civilization is a growing sense of
irresponsibility in men for the things that happen in society and in their own
lives. Willingly and without complaint we accept the pleasures and privileges
of life, as though they were the natural heritage of the human race, the
indisputable right of every living soul.

The question of whether such blessings are deserved or not, or of the
need for gratitude to those through whom they come, seems never to disturb the
serenity of complacent, self-righteous minds. But when sorrows and troubles
arise, and the tide of life washes up to our feet experiences that are
difficult to meet, it is an altogether different matter. Not only do we
question and complain - we rebel, and
in many instances accuse Great Nature of being fickle, cruel, unjust. Upon the
approach of trial, we oftentimes put ourselves in such states of mental and
psychic unbalance that it becomes practically impossible to see our true duty,
and to learn the lessons which the events of life invariably hold.

“Why should this happen to me?” we say.

“Why is it that others, far less worthy than I, experience only pleasure
and good times, while I am made to suffer?”

As proof of the fact that these questions are put from the lower,
selfish parts of our natures, it is to be noted that we seldom complain about
the miseries of other people. Friends and acquaintances may go through the most
trying of circumstances, may suffer mercilessly at the hands of fate, without
even a murmur of protest from us, so long as we ourselves are healthy, happy
and well fed.

According to the American Declaration of Independence, it is the
inalienable right of every human being to engage in the “pursuit of happiness”.
This wonderful promise of freedom has been interpreted by some to mean that
every single individual, every living citizen, without exception, is entitled to happiness, regardless of
whether the blessing is deserved or not. But how can this be so? How can a man
expect to experience peace and contentment of mind without having first set in
motion the causes that lead to the effect? How can any person enjoy happiness
while others suffer, and without a feeling of responsibility for the needs of
those around him? Man’s only right, in the eyes of Karma, and even in the eyes
of the Declaration of Independence, once it is correctly understood, is the
right to pursue happiness, the right
to perform such acts, to live such life, to set up such causes, in short, as
shall result eventually in the condition of mind he wishes to achieve.
Otherwise, however much one may take his privileges for granted, however much
he may expect as a free American
citizen, sorrow, despair and disappointment will be his lot.

One of the greatest delusions of our age is the belief that peace,
freedom and happiness can be legislated by law, that all that is required for
the attainment of Nature’s grandest prize, is the signing of a document, the
demanding of a right, the expression of a desire. But a desire, says William Q.
Judge, “is not a condition”, and what we have to do it to create the condition
through which the effects we wish to accomplish may flow.

Few individuals stop to consider the means by which true happiness can
be attained. Few seem to realize that there is such a thing as unlawful as well
as lawful pleasure, that with the
inalienable right to pursue happiness comes also a certain inalienable
responsibility - a responsibility for the well-being of others. The Laws of
Divine Humanity which nourish and sustain a man throughout the whole of his
life will not allow him to long continue his round of selfish desire. The Laws
of Universal Brotherhood weld all things and beings in the Kosmos into a common
community of souls, and any pleasures gained selfishly or to the hurt of others
are unlawful, and will result ultimately in sorrow, pain and dis-pleasure. The privileges growing out
of the bond of brotherhood are simply one side of the coin, the other being
that of duty and responsibility.

The reward of unlawful pleasure is always lawful pain. Why do we
consider our pleasures to be right and just and our pains to be cruel and
extremely unjust? Is it because we take the position of separateness, because
we labor under the belief that the world owes us happiness and that anything
that interferes is unlawful? Not until men gain some concept of universal Law
or Karma will they come to see that it is impossible to act selfishly,
inconsiderate of the good of others, without a lawful rebuff from Life.

Since the founding of the present Theosophical Movement in 1875,
millions of people, perhaps, have heard of the doctrine of Karma. Of this number, thousands have given the idea some thought -
at least to the extent that, in their eyes, it is the only logical explanation
of the many mysteries of life. But how many individuals, among those who accept
the doctrine theoretically, apply it as a key to their own lives? How many see
it as the cause for their birth, with whatever it holds of weal or woe? How
many actually use the Law, just as
they would a principle of physics or chemistry, for the purpose of correcting
faults in themselves, of remedying defects, and of strengthening character?
Once Karma is applied thus, each event, however painful or pleasurable, becomes
the lawful working-out of Divine Justice.

Karma is said to be the law of equilibrium and harmony in which the
universe rests, or is sustained. Having its roots in Spirit, which is the
divine essence of all things and beings, whether of an atom, a solar system, a
mosquito, or a man, and operating through the Divine Ideation of Universal Mind,
its adjustments are always effected from the point of view of the Whole. How
else can equal justice be achieved? Karma knows neither preference nor enmity,
for on the plane of its repose all things and beings are one. And the man who
learns its ways and works with it finds a friend more trustworthy than the most
faithful of relationships between men. The co-worker with Nature experiences a
joy far above and beyond the usual kamic or emotional pleasures of sense. He
has learned the magic formula of conforming his ways and wills to the pleasure
and disposition of the Divine Will. Work for the principle of Universal
Brotherhood results ultimately in peace and everlasting joy.

Imagine, for the sake of illustration, that the great spiritual plane of
consciousness is a universal Ocean of Water, extending everywhere and
interpenetrating all things and beings, and that Karma, or the Law of Harmony,
is the tendency in that Ocean to restore calm and equilibrium. And let the
physical plane on which we live and move be represented by that portion of the
Ocean which is visible to our sight - that is, the surface, with its waves and
ripples, and whatever floating objects there may be. In the attempt to restore
harmony in our lives, most of us unfortunately concern ourselves exclusively
with the waves and ripples, with the multiform objects of debris as they bob up
and down upon the surging sweep of time. Ignoring the vast depths of man’s
invisible nature, and its fundamental identity with the Soul of Humanity, with
whatever It feels from the winds of fate, we quibble with effects. How is it
possible to calm a floating log on the water, so long as the Ocean itself is
disturbed? How can a single unit of the race go into a state of bliss or
personal salvation while others suffer?

Knowledge of the Law of Karma leads men to see that they cannot violate
the principle of unity and progress, that it is impossible to live in the
pleasure-grounds of sense without doing injury, both to themselves and to
others, and that any infringement of the purposes of Soul, however personally
enjoyable, can but lead to pain.

Might it be that one reason why we are so expecting, so demanding of our
rights to personal pleasure, is that we have taken for granted all the natural
beneficent privileges of Universal Brotherhood, without realizing that
something is due in return? “He who, sinfully delighting in the gratification
of his passions, doth not cause this wheel thus already set in motion to
continue revolving, liveth in vain, O son of Pritha.” [1]

Wide distinction is to be made therefore between the psychic pleasures
of the personality and the true pleasure and disposition of the Soul. The
former is a product of Lower Manas, and is artificial, temporary, skin-deep, of
the nature of amusement and emotional gratification. Higher Manasic pleasure,
on the other hand, is enduring and noble above all other experiences. In its
highest sense, true happiness is closely related to bliss, which has been
defined by all religious mystics as blessedness, felicity, rapture. The great
tragedy of modern civilization is the fact that men search for true happiness
in the turbulent waves of Lower Mind, in the desires and ambitions of the
personality. We ceaselessly deceive ourselves with the delusion that heart aspiration
and yearning can be satisfied through the acquirement of things, or on the plane of emotion or sensation. With each new
acquirement or experience, we think that now, at last, the object of our heart’s
desire has been fulfilled, only to wake up, sooner or later, to the fact that
all objects of sense must eventually turn to dust and ashes in the mouth. Yet,
on and on the Law of Karma leads us, moved by the force of our own souls, which
will never allow us to rest content with less than divinity for the whole man,
and for all.

True happiness can be known only when the individual adjusts his own
attitude of mind, so that instead of taking
all he can get from life, he asks what it is he can give; instead of viewing the Law as punitive and restrictive, he sees
it as a power that works for his good; instead of thinking that Karma is to be
feared, he sees it as something to be trusted and revered. What would we think
of a world in which no man could receive help from another, in which each was
required to labor just for himself? How would we like the idea of a universe
without Law and order? Those who recount their blessings soon come to see that
the Law of the Universe is their truest friend, a reality that we can and do
trust, to some degree, every moment of our lives. Universal adjustment and
lasting joy will be achieved only when men,
in their turn, become as trustworthy as the Law, equally concerned for the
good of all as for their own advance.

A 2017 NOTE:

[1] This is the
fourth paragraph in Chapter III of the “Bhagavad Gita”, version by William Q.
Judge, Theosophy Co., Los Angeles. (CCA)